Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Terrorism, Mental Health, and September 11  44-page report in PDF format from the Century Foundation that "examines how post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) extended far beyond the New York population directly exposed to the September 11 attacks. Television coverage brought the disaster to a much larger audience and caused full-blown and sub-syndromal cases of PTSD throughout the nation. The report recommends increasing training for PTSD diagnosis and treatment so that primary care physicians are able to refer or assist patients suffering from the disorder. "  
  

Mentally ill more likely victim than perp Science Daily story - "A Northwestern University study indicates severely mentally ill people are more likely victims rather than perpetrators of violence. Researchers at the university's Feinberg School of Medicine say more than one-fourth of individuals with severe mental illness were victims of violent crime during 2004 -- a rate nearly 12 times that of the general population. Depending on the type of violent crime, prevalence was six to 23 times greater among people with severe mental illness than among the general population, said lead author Linda Teplin, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Feinberg..."  
  

Cognitive Therapy Reduces Repeat Suicide Attempts by 50 Percent  National Institute of Mental Health press release - "Recent suicide attempters treated with cognitive therapy were 50 percent less likely to try to kill themselves again within 18 months than those who did not receive the therapy, report researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A targeted form of cognitive therapy designed to prevent suicide proved better at lifting depression and feelings of hopelessness than the usual care available in the community, according to Gregory Brown, Ph.D., Aaron Beck, M.D., University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues, who published their findings in the August 3, 2005 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). "